World Ocean Conference: Time for countries to speak out on marine issues

The Jakarta Post 11 May 09;

As the biggest archipelagic country in the world, Indonesia has called on the global commu-nity to speak out on the need and significance to preserve the ocean, which plays a key role in food security.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi told a press briefing Sunday that many countries were affected by global warming, including rising sea levels and sea temperatures.

"What about the people affected by the impacts *of global warming* caused by developed countries? Should we remain quiet?" he said a day before the start of the May 11-15 World Ocean Conference.

"It's time for us to speak out. about the absorption, about the emissions. These issues need further discussions."

He added many countries had to deal with rising sea levels, which in some places have already submerged some small islands.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that climate change will raise sea levels by nearly 60 centimeters by 2100 if nations do not make a concerted effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the examples is the Maldives, which are currently 1.5 meters above sea level and is at serious risk of being inundated by rising sea levels.

Freddy said Indonesia had received support from Pacific countries to speak out on the ocean-related issue, especially on preservation and food security.

He added the country had begun the preservation of its marine ecosystem in a bid to show the global community that Indonesia was taking real action.

"We've begun to create marine protected areas (MPAs), especially in the Savu Sea in East Nusa Tenggara. Our move was previously challenged by the local people because they observe the lamalera *whaling* tradition," he said.

"With the Savu Sea becoming a conservation area, they were afraid they would no longer be able to hunt whales. They only catch two whales a year. So we've kept the sea a conservation area, but we ensure they can still perform their traditional fishing rights."

The Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) - to begin on May 14 - is expected to come up with an action plan to preserve 75,000 square kilometers of coral reefs spread out between six countries: Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia. The six countries will get international funding worth US$250 million.

The coral triangle is located between the Pacific and Indian oceans, making the spot a breeding ground for numerous species of fish, which makes it a potentially lucrative fishing industry.

WOC ignores main problems in ocean sector: Activists
Adianto P. Simamora and Jongker Rumteh, The Jakarta Post 11 May 09;

A long history of illegal fishing, the dumping of tailing from mining companies into the sea, and poor support for traditional fishermen are the three main problems in Indonesia's ocean sector. Unfortunately, those issues remain excluded from the agenda at the World Ocean Conference (WOC) that begins Monday.

Activists grouped under the Manado Alliances said their presence here was to observe the WOC and the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit. They said they wanted to remind both national and foreign delegates about the real problems in the ocean sector.

"We see the conference falls short of critical and real problems that were excluded from the WOC agenda, namely rampant illegal fishing, tailing from mining into the sea, and the fate of small fishermen," coalition coordinator Reza Damanik said Sunday.

The coalition comprises the People's Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara), the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM), the Hijau Indonesia Institute, the Center for Ocean Development Institute Maritime Civilization Studies, the Anti-Debt Coalition (KAU) and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).

Reza, who is also the Kiara coordinator, said the WOC would not guarantee sustainable fishery resources if the host country failed to be "courageous" about discussing the illegal fishing problem at the international meeting.

He added data from the coalition showed Indonesia's fisheries potential was slashed by 30 to 50 percent because of illegal trade practices.

"The conference also falls short on discussing issues related to mining tailing being dumped into the sea," Reza said.

"Many mining firms from industrialized nations operating in Indonesia still dump their mining wastes directly into the ocean."

He added the WOC did not answer the need to protect key fishing areas for the country's traditional fishermen.

"It is the government's responsibility to protect the rights of traditional fisheries from the impacts of global climate change," he said.

Outspoken mining activist Siti Maimunah insisted that participants from NGOs did not intend to disturb the WOC and CTI summit.

"We are here to insist on the substances of the WOC and CTI, which do not answer the root causes of problems in the ocean sector," she said.

Senior officials from 80 countries are slated to begin negotiations to reach a target of collective consensus on the role of the ocean in climate change during the five-day conference.

Organizers say the conference is aimed at raising commitment from international bodies and intergovernmental organizations to protect and conserve fisheries resources to ensure food security.

It is also targeted at drawing global attention to the need to save small islands and coastal areas as part of facing up to the threat from global climate change.

"But there are no representations from *real' stakeholders at the forum, and no consultations have been held to develop the concept of the WOC agenda," Glenn Ismael Ymata, from the regional Assembly of Artisans and Fishermen Trade Conference, said at the coalition meeting.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi has repeatedly said Indonesia has other forums to discuss issues such as illegal fishing.

He added climate change had become a real problem for mari-time countries as it threatened to raise sea levels and sea temperatures, which could kill fishes and threaten the livelihoods of coastal communities.

The police in Manado said they were forced to disband a meeting of traditional fishermen and civil society on Sunday. They declined to comment on the reasons for not allowing the fishermen to camp out in a reclaimed area of Kalasey Beach.

Walhi executive director Berry N. Forqan said the alliance was still negotiating with the National Police in Jakarta to obtain a permit for the meeting.

WOC and Indonesia's sustainable ocean development
Rokhmin Dahuri, The Jakarta Post 11 May 09;

Perhaps there is no country in the world that might have a greater need than Indonesia to be concerned about its ocean space and resources. After centuries of being at the epicenter of international trade and commerce due to its geo-strategic location on the the Asia Pacific Rim, Indonesia, which forms the world's largest archipelago (more than 17,500 islands) and possesses the greatest marine biodiversity of any region of the world, should be recognized as one of the most significant maritime nations.

Indeed, prior to the colonial era, Indonesia was one of the strongest maritime powers in the Asia-Pacific region. Moreover, at times when the Law of the Sea was negotiated, Indonesia was respected as one of the most outstanding leaders, especially in ensuring the archipelagic concept (the 1957 Djoeanda Declaration) was incorporated into the 1982 UNCLOS.

However, from the beginning of colonialism until the fall of the New Order government (1998), Indonesia has turned its back on the oceans and has not dealt effectively with coastal and ocean development as a sustainable source of its competitiveness, prosperity and sovereignty. For more than three and a half centuries, most Indonesians had perceived the oceans as "a marginal land" with insignificant economic potential and no strategic value for the nation.

Such a misleading perception was obviously reflected in the allocation of government funds, credit loans, human resources, science and technology, infrastructure and other management input into coastal and ocean development sectors that have been much smaller than those for land-based development sectors.

It is no coincidence the pattern of coastal and ocean resource development in the past was characterized by low technological content, inefficient and highly extractive, with no regard for environmental and resource sustainability. As a corollary, the physical destruction of vital coastal ecosystems (coral reefs, sea-grass beds, mangroves, estuaries and beaches), pollution, overfishing, biodiversity loss and other environmental stresses in some coastal areas (such as parts of the Malacca Strait, Jakarta Bay, the south coast of South Sulawesi, Buyat Bay and Aijkwa estuary in Papua) has reached a level that threatens their sustainable capacity in supporting further economic development.

Indonesian seas actually have tremendous economic, socio-cultural, and ecological functions, which are invaluable not only to Indonesia but also to the rest of the world. Indonesia is blessed with abundant and diverse coastal and ocean resources ranging from non-renewable resources such as oil and gas, iron ores, tin, bauxite, gold, copper and other minerals, and renewable resources including fish, marine organisms, mangroves, coral reefs and seaweed. Moreover, Indonesia's coastal and ocean ecosystems have many other roles and functions in people's daily lives and the economic development of the nation including tourism, sea transportation and communication, ports and harbors, maritime industries and services, cooling water for industries, waste assimilation and conservation.

In 2007 the contribution of coastal and ocean development sectors to the Indonesian economy was estimated at $100 billion (one-quarter of GDP), which is much lower than the total potential estimates of US$800 billion annually. Those coastal and ocean sectors represent a significant source of economic and social welfare, supporting directly or indirectly 60 percent of the Indonesian population who currently live in the coastal zone. Preliminary estimates indicate these activities provide employment opportunities for about 16 million people. Thus, if we could boost coastal and ocean development to up to 50 percent of the national GDP, then new employment opportunities for about 15 million people would be created.

Meanwhile, Indonesian seas and oceans determine the dynamic of world's climate including El-Nino, La-Nina, and global warming. Although scientifically still debatable, Indonesian seas and oceans as the center of global marine biodiversity (Coral Triangle) are strongly believed to have a greater sink function of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2.

Indonesia is also uniquely located as the only country on Earth where an exchange of marine life between the Pacific and Indian oceans occurs. Cetacean (whale and dolphin) movements between the tropical Pacific and Indian oceans take place through the passages between the Lesser Sunda Islands, which span over 900 kilometers between the Sunda and Sahul shelves. Skipjacks, tuna and other large pelagic fishes also use the Indonesian marine waters as their spawning grounds, nursery grounds, feeding grounds, and migratory routes from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, and vice versa.

The challenge for Indonesia is therefore how to develop coastal and ocean resources on an optimal and sustainable basis for the utmost benefit of the Indonesian people and the world by proportionally achieving economic growth, social equity, ecological sustainability while also managing the impacts of global warming.

As far as marine conservation is concerned, Indonesia has been in the lead by establishing more than 8 million hectares of its territorial waters as MPA (marine protected areas) from 1977 to 2007. Since 2002 it has been planned the MPA will be enlarged to 10 million hectares by the end of 2010, making it the largest of its kind in the world.

If through the WOC, world leaders are fully committed to conserving the "Coral Triangle Ecosystem", the function of Indonesian seas as carbon sinks and the center of global marine biodiversity and gene pools will be strengthened. In return, world nations, especially industrialized countries and neighboring countries, should help Indonesia overcome chronic problems of high unemployment and poverty rates through the transfer of sustainable ocean technology, capacity building, productive investment, combating illegal fishing and trans-boundary environmental destructions, and free and fair international trade.

The writer is professor of coastal and marine resource management at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.

WOC needs scientific help
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post 11 May 09;

Lack of scientific support may deter representatives and experts from 90 ocean countries from bringing up the significance of oceans in climate change to the UN talks in Copenhagen in December.

Bringing ocean issues to the UN talks is crucial as it will attract global attention and funding from bilateral and multilateral agreements, with developing countries likely to get funding for their adaptation and mitigation programs in dealing with the impacts of climate change, observers say.

Mitigation programs involve taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance sinks aimed at reducing carbon dioxide levels, while adaptation refers to activities and policies to cope with the changing environment.

The conference's declaration draft clearly acknowledges "the crucial role of the ocean in regulating the world's climate. will contribute to both accelerating and dampening the rate of climate change", while also recognizing that marine ecosystems have "significant potential for addressing the adverse impact of climate change, including trough carbon sequestration and carbon storage".

With the ocean's underlining role, participating countries ask the UN secretary-general in the draft declaration to "integrate ocean considerations into the UN's climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, and invite parties of the UN Copenhagen meeting to consider the ocean dimension in the post 2012 framework".

The Copenhagen meeting will discuss a new regime on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2011.

With mitigation referring mostly to the ability to absorb carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming, and special adaptation funds for oceans requiring proof of concrete impacts of climate change on ocean countries, the conference needs solid support from scientific research to win over the UN's influential and developed member states, including the US and the EU.

However, scientists here remain divided over the role of oceans on climate change, with some saying oceans are in reality carbon emitters, rather than carbon sinks.

"We have no conclusive and final research on the role of oceans on climate change. In general, oceans are naturally carbon dioxide emitters," Iwan Eka, an oceanography expert at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), said Sunday.

"With climate temperatures getting higher, more carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere."

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi has repeatedly said Indonesia's 5.8 million square kilometers of sea could absorb around 245 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

"It's too soon to conclude, as we are yet to conduct comprehensive research on the relation between climate change and the oceans," Iwan said.

On the sidelines of the WOC and CTI Summit, some 1,500 experts will also hold an international symposium on ocean policies and science and technology to try to reach a consensus on the role of the oceans in climate change.

The Indonesian government says it hopes the symposium will come up with the consensus to support the political decision in the Manado Ocean Declaration, saying it will table the scientific support at the 31st session of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that runs from Oct. 26 to 29 in Bali.

The IPCC is the world's only authoritative body on scientific climate matters. It was established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and is currently working on its fifth assessment report, including on the ocean. The report will be complete in 2014.

The IPCC's fourth report has fully convinced the world to unite to address the impacts of climate change.

Saving our ocean
The Jakarta Post 11 May 09;

The first ever World Ocean Conference (WOC) begins today to be followed with the Coral Triangle Initiatives (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security Inaugural Summit in Manado, North Sulawesi. Some 3,500 participants from 120 countries are expected to attend the event.

The government has ensured that all infrastructure in a city previously only known for its Bunaken marine park will be ready for the May 11-15 event. The fact that water covers 72 percent of the world's surface shows the significance of the event.

The WOC will focus on the Manado Ocean Declaration, which calls on those managing adaptation programs to consider the provisions for funding so as to integrate coastal and ocean management into the context of climate change. The declaration also stresses the need to promote the transfer of environmentally sound technologies for oceans from developed countries to developing countries to help the latter mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Indonesia hopes to convince the United Nations to adopt the declaration in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen by the end of the year. Indonesia argues the ocean has the ability to absorb carbon and should therefore be included in the UNFCCC. With the country's 5.8 million square kilometers of sea, the water could absorb around 245 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year.

Besides the WOC, Indonesia and five other countries grouped in the CTI - Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste - will not only talk about preserving coral reefs, but will also discuss the role of the coral triangle as an abundant resource of tuna. If the six countries are able to maintain the coral triangle conditions, they will receive a multi-billion US dollar benefit from the tuna industry.

Food security is another factor of focus at the CTI. Despite abundant resources, the coral triangle faces threats from overfishing and destruction of marine life from pollution and increasing demands for fish and marine resources.

We hope marine experts can contribute their research and ideas to help keep the ocean safe. Our seas have long suffered from mankind's ignorance; it is time to recognize their importance.